Thin-Sheet FinFET Device

ABSTRACT

A thin-sheet non-planar circuit device such as a FinFET and a method for forming the device is disclosed. In some exemplary embodiments, the device includes a substrate having a top surface and a feature disposed on the substrate that extends above the top surface. A material layer disposed on the feature. The material layer includes a plurality of source/drain regions and a channel region disposed between the source/drain regions. A gate stack is disposed on the channel region of the material layer. In some such embodiments, the feature includes a plurality of side surfaces, and the material layer is disposed on each of the side surface surfaces. In some such embodiments, the feature also includes a top surface and the material layer is further disposed on the top surface. In some embodiments, the top surface of the feature is free of the material layer.

BACKGROUND

The semiconductor industry has progressed into nanometer technologyprocess nodes in pursuit of higher device density, higher performance,and lower costs. Despite groundbreaking advances in materials andfabrication, scaling planar device such as the conventional MOSFET hasproven challenging. To overcome these challenges, circuit designers lookto novel structures to deliver improved performance. One avenue ofinquiry is the development of three-dimensional designs, such as afin-like field effect transistor (FinFET). A FinFET can be thought of asa typical planar device extruded out of a substrate and into the gate. Atypical FinFET is fabricated with a thin “fin” (or fin structure)extending up from a substrate. The channel of the FET is formed in thisvertical fin, and a gate is provided over (e.g., wrapping around) thechannel region of the fin. Wrapping the gate around the fin increasesthe contact area between the channel region and the gate and allows thegate to control the channel from multiple sides. This can be leveragedin a number of way, and in some applications, FinFETs provide reducedshort channel effects, reduced leakage, and higher current flow. Inother words, they may be faster, smaller, and more efficient than planardevices.

However, because of the complexity inherent in FinFETS and othernon-planar devices, fabrication techniques may more closely resembleMEMS (microelectromechanical systems) techniques than conventionalplanar transistor fabrication. Some planar techniques may be redesignedfor non-planar manufacturing. Other techniques are wholly unique tonon-planar fabrication. Thus while non-planar devices have alreadyproven suitable for a number of applications, opportunities remain forfurther advances in device structures, materials, and fabricationtechniques. These advances have the potential to deliver furtherreductions in power and size with improved drive strength andreliability.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is best understood from the following detaileddescription when read with the accompanying figures. It is emphasizedthat, in accordance with the standard practice in the industry, variousfeatures are not drawn to scale and are used for illustration purposesonly. In fact, the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarilyincreased or reduced for clarity of discussion.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a workpiece according tovarious aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a portion of a workpiece containing athin-sheet FinFET according to various aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 3 is a molecular diagram of graphene according to various aspectsof the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a molecular diagram of a transition metal dichalcogenidecompound according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method for forming a trigateFinFET device according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 6-15 are perspective views of a portion of a workpiece undergoinga method of forming a trigate FinFET device according to various aspectsof the present disclosure.

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of a workpiece undergoinga method of forming a trigate FinFET device according to various aspectsof the present disclosure.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of a portion of a workpiece undergoing amethod of forming a trigate FinFET device according to various aspectsof the present disclosure.

FIG. 18 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method for forming adouble-gate FinFET device according to various aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 19-24 are perspective views of a portion of a workpiece undergoinga method of forming a double-gate FinFET device according to variousaspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 25 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method for forming adouble-gate FinFET device using an anisotropic etching process accordingto various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 26-29 are perspective views of a portion of a workpiece undergoinga method of forming a double-gate FinFET device according to variousaspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 30 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method for forming adouble-gate FinFET device using sidewall spacers according to variousaspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 31-36 are perspective views of a portion of a workpiece undergoinga method of forming a double-gate FinFET device according to variousaspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 37 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method for forming adouble-device FinFET according to various aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 38-41 are perspective views of a portion of a workpiece undergoinga method of forming a double-device FinFET according to various aspectsof the present disclosure.

FIG. 42 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method for forming aninner-gate FinFET according to various aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 43-50 are perspective views of a portion of a workpiece undergoinga method of forming an inner-gate dual gate FinFET according to variousaspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 51 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method for forming a finstructure on a multi-layer substrate according to various aspects of thepresent disclosure.

FIGS. 52-57 are perspective views of a portion of a workpiece undergoingthe method of forming a fin structure on a multi-layer substrateaccording to various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 58-69 are perspective views of a portion of a workpiece havingthin-film FinFETs formed thereupon according to various aspects of thepresent disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure relates generally to IC devices and theirfabrication and, more particularly, to a thin-sheet non-planar circuitdevice such as a FinFET.

The following disclosure provides many different embodiments, orexamples, for implementing different features of the disclosure.Specific examples of components and arrangements are described below tosimplify the present disclosure. These are, of course, merely examplesand are not intended to be limiting. For example, the formation of afirst feature over or on a second feature in the description thatfollows may include embodiments in which the first and second featuresare formed in direct contact, and may also include embodiments in whichadditional features may be formed between the first and second features,such that the first and second features may not be in direct contact. Inaddition, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/orletters in the various examples. This repetition is for the purpose ofsimplicity and clarity and does not in itself dictate a relationshipbetween the various embodiments and/or configurations discussed.

Further, spatially relative terms, such as “beneath,” “below,” “lower,”“above,” “upper” and the like, may be used herein for ease ofdescription to describe one element or feature's relationship to anotherelement(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. The spatiallyrelative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of thedevice in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted inthe figures. For example, if the device in the figures is turned over,elements described as being “below” or “beneath” other elements orfeatures would then be oriented “above” the other elements or features.Thus, the exemplary term “below” can encompass both an orientation ofabove and below. The apparatus may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90° orat other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors usedherein may likewise be interpreted accordingly.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a workpiece 100 accordingto various aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 1 has been simplifiedfor the sake of clarity and to better illustrate the concepts of thepresent disclosure. Additional features may be incorporated into theworkpiece 100, and some of the features described below may be replacedor eliminated for other embodiments of the workpiece 100.

The workpiece 100 includes a substrate 102 or wafer with one or more finstructures 104 formed upon it. The fin structures 104 are representativeof any raised feature, and while the illustrated embodiments include aFinFET 106 formed on the fin structure 104, further embodiments includeother raised active and passive devices formed upon the fin 104. Theexemplary FinFET 106 is a transistor and comprises a pair of opposingsource/drain regions 108, each of which may include various dopedsemiconductor materials, and a channel region 110 positioned between thesource/drain regions. The flow of carriers (electrons for an n-channeldevice and holes for a p-channel device) through the channel region 110is controlled by a voltage applied to a gate stack 112 adjacent to andoverwrapping the channel region 110. The gate stack 112 is shown astranslucent to better illustrate the underlying channel region 110. Inthe illustrated embodiment, the channel region 110 rises above the planeof the substrate 102 upon which it is formed, and accordingly, the finstructure 104 may be referred to as a “non-planar” device. The raisedchannel region 110 provides a larger surface area proximate to the gatestack 112 than comparable planar devices. This strengthens theelectromagnetic field interactions between the gate stack 112 and thechannel region 110, which may reduce leakage and short channel effectsassociated with smaller devices. Thus in many embodiments, FinFETs 106and other non-planar devices deliver better performance in a smallerfootprint than their planar counterparts.

However, although FinFETs 106 may exhibit improved performance, they arenot immune to complications resulting from reduced device size. It hasbeen determined through experimentation that as the size of the finstructure 104 is reduced, the performance is adversely impacted in anumber of ways. For example, reductions in body thickness (correspondingto a reduction in fin width indicated by arrow 114), have been shown todecrease the mobility of carriers through the channel region 110. As aconsequence, the effective resistance of the channel region 110increases, resulting in lost power. Furthermore, channel regionresistance also becomes more sensitive to manufacturing imperfections.For example, fluctuations in body thickness along the channel region110, sometimes referred to as line width roughness, may become morepronounced when forming small fins 104. As the overall fin width isreduced, the variations account for a larger portion of the total size.For these reasons and others, the mobility and channel resistance may bevastly different across fin structures 104 of the workpiece.

Another size-dependent effect is quantum-mechanical confinement.Generally, as body thickness is reduced, the threshold voltage, V_(th),of a device such as a FinFET 106 increases. The threshold voltage is theminimum voltage needed at the gate stack 112 to allow substantialcurrent to flow between the source/drain regions 108. Integratedcircuits are typically designed for a particular threshold voltage orvoltage range. However, as the body thickness is decreased, thethreshold voltage increases exponentially. At extremely small sizes, asmall change in body thickness across devices can result in a widediscrepancy in respective V_(th). Thus, variations in threshold voltagebetween devices become more pronounced.

For these reasons and others, alternatives to a semiconductor-basedchannel region 110 may provide improved carrier mobility, lower bodyresistance, and more consistent performance. FIG. 2 is a perspectiveview of a portion of a workpiece 200 containing a thin-sheet FinFET 202according to various aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 has beensimplified for the sake of clarity and to better illustrate the conceptsof the present disclosure. Additional features may be incorporated intothe workpiece 200, and some of the features described below may bereplaced or eliminated for other embodiments of the workpiece 200. TheFinFET device 202 of the workpiece 200 is understood to represent anyactive or passive fin-based device, and the concepts of the presentdisclosure apply equally to any of these alternatives.

In many respects, the workpiece 200 is similar to workpiece 100 ofFIG. 1. However, in contrast to the previous embodiments, the channelregion 110 is formed on a thin sheet (i.e., sheet layer 204) that isdraped over a raised feature referred to as a rib structure 208extending up from the substrate 102. In some embodiments, thesource/drain regions 108 are also formed on the sheet layer 204. Whencompared to a conventional semiconductor material, the material used toform the sheet layer 204 may have a higher intrinsic carrier mobilitythan a conventional semiconductor as described in more detail below.Thus, even though the channel region 110 may have a reducedcross-sectional area (generally related to reduced mobility and higherresistivity), the corresponding FinFET 202 may still exhibit increasedmobility with greater consistency across FinFETs 202. Correspondingly,channel resistance and threshold voltages may be more uniform as well.

The structure of the thin-sheet FinFET 202 will now be described in moredetail. The FinFET 202 is formed on a substrate 102 or wafer. Suitablesubstrates 102 include both semiconductor and non-semiconductorsubstrates. For example, the substrate 102 may include a bulk siliconsubstrate. Alternatively, the substrate 102 may comprise an elementarysemiconductor, such as silicon or germanium in a crystalline structure;a compound semiconductor, such as silicon germanium, silicon carbide,gallium arsenic, gallium phosphide, indium phosphide, indium arsenide,and/or indium antimonide; or combinations thereof. Possible substrates102 also include a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. SOIsubstrates are fabricated using separation by implantation of oxygen(SIMOX), wafer bonding, and/or other suitable methods. In variousembodiments, generally non-conductive substrates 102 include quartzand/or glass insulators, semiconductor oxides, semiconductor nitride,and/or semiconductor oxynitrides.

To form a variety of planar and non-planar devices, the substrate 102may include various doped regions depending on design requirements asknown in the art (e.g., p-type wells or n-type wells). The doped regionsare doped with p-type dopants, such as boron or BF₂; n-type dopants,such as phosphorus or arsenic; or combinations thereof. The dopedregions may be formed directly on the substrate 102, in a P-wellstructure, in an N-well structure, in a dual-well structure, or on orwithin a raised structure. The semiconductor substrate 102 may furtherinclude various active regions, such as regions configured for an N-typemetal-oxide-semiconductor transistor device (nMOS) and regionsconfigured for a P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor transistor device(pMOS).

The substrate 102 may include one or more isolation features 206 formedon it to electrically isolate circuit devices including the illustratedthin-sheet FinFET 202. In the illustrated embodiment, the isolationfeature 206 includes a shallow trench isolation (STI) feature. In otherembodiments, the isolation feature 206 is a component (e.g., layer) of asilicon-on-insulator substrate 102. In yet another exemplary embodiment,an isolation feature 206 takes the form of a buried oxide layer (BOX).The isolation feature 206 comprises any suitable material, including asemiconductor oxide, a semiconductor nitride, a semiconductoroxynitride, a semiconductor carbide, fluoride-doped silicate glass(FSG), low-K dielectric material, and/or other suitable materials, andmay be formed using any suitable deposition process including thermalgrowth, atomic layer deposition (ALD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD),high-density plasma CVD (HDP-CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD),and/or other suitable deposition processes.

The FinFET 106 includes a rib structure 208 extending above the topsurface 210 of the substrate 102 and includes a sheet layer 204 formedon the rib structure 208. In some embodiments, the rib structure 208 isa portion of the substrate 102 that extends through the isolationfeature 206, although the rib structure 208 may also be a separatesemiconductor, dielectric, and/or other support material. In variousembodiments, the rib structure 208 includes a semiconductor material(e.g., an elementary semiconductor and/or a compound semiconductor), adielectric material (e.g., a semiconductor oxide, a semiconductornitride, a semiconductor oxynitride, a semiconductor carbide, FSG,and/or a low-K dielectric material), an insulator material (e.g.,quartz, glass, etc.), and/or combinations thereof.

In some embodiments, such as those of FIGS. 44-50, described below, therib structure 208 includes a conductor such as polysilicon and/or ametal such as aluminum, copper, titanium, tantalum, tungsten,molybdenum, tantalum nitride, nickel silicide, cobalt silicide, TiN, WN,TiAl, TiAlN, TaCN, TaC, TaSiN, metal alloys, other suitable materials,and/or combinations thereof. In such embodiments, the conductor of therib structure 208 may be part of a second gate stack. The second gatestack may include a gate dielectric disposed over the conductor thatphysically and electrically isolates the conductive material from thesheet layer 204.

The sheet layer 204 is disposed over the rib structure 208, and in someembodiments, on a portion of the top surface 210 of the substrate 102and/or isolation feature 206. The sheet layer 204 includes a channelregion 110 disposed under the gate stack 112 and may also includesource/drain regions 108. In various embodiments, the sheet layer 204 isformed to include one or more layers of a 2D material. Suitable 2Dmaterials include graphene and other materials that align along a singleplane or sheet at the molecular level.

Referring to FIG. 3, a molecular diagram 300 of graphene is shownaccording to aspects of the present disclosure. Graphene is anarrangement of carbon atoms 302 in monolayers aligned along a singleplane 304. Techniques for forming monolayers of graphene in a sheetlayer 204 are described in further detail in the context of FIG. 14. Aspure graphene has a high conductivity, it may be doped with one or moreimpurities within the channel region 110 to control mobility and inducea semiconductor-like response to a gate voltage. Thus, in variousembodiments, the graphene is doped with titanium, chromium, iron, NH₃,potassium, and/or NO₂.

Another class of suitable 2D materials for the sheet layer 204 isdisclosed in the context of FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a molecular diagram 400 ofa transition metal dichalcogenide compound according to aspects of thepresent disclosure. The compound includes atoms 402 of a transitionmetal (e.g., Zr, Ta, Nb, W, Mo, Ga, Sn, etc.) represented by filledcircles and atoms 404 of a chalcogenide (e.g., Se, S, Te, etc.)represented by open circles. Similar to graphene, transition metaldichalcogenide materials align in generally planar monolayers. Alsosimilar to graphene, transition metal dichalcogenide materials exhibithigh conductivity and carrier mobility, making them well-suited for usein the sheet layer 204 of the thin-sheet FinFET 202.

Referring back to the thin-sheet FinFET 202 of FIG. 2, a gate stack 112is disposed over the sheet layer 204 and defines the channel region 110of the sheet layer 204. In various exemplary embodiments, the gate stack112 includes an interfacial layer, a conductor such as polysiliconand/or a metal conductor, and a gate dielectric formed between theconductor and the sheet layer 204.

Various exemplary embodiments of the thin-sheet FinFET device 202 andtechniques for forming the embodiments will now be described. It isunderstood that elements of the illustrated devices may be combined,interchanged, added, or removed between the various examples, and noparticular feature or advantage is required for any particularembodiment. An exemplary trigate thin-sheet FinFET device is disclosedwith reference to FIGS. 5-17. FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an exemplarymethod 500 for forming the trigate FinFET device according to variousaspects of the present disclosure. It is understood that additionalsteps can be provided before, during, and after the steps of method 500,and that some of the steps described can be replaced or eliminated forother embodiments of the method. FIGS. 6-15 and 17 are perspective viewsof a portion of a workpiece 600 undergoing the method 400 of forming atrigate FinFET device 202 according to various aspects of the presentdisclosure. FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of aworkpiece 600 undergoing a method of forming a trigate FinFET device 202according to various aspects of the present disclosure. FIGS. 6-17 havebeen simplified for the sake of clarity and to better illustrate theconcepts of the present disclosure. Additional features may beincorporated into the workpiece 600, and some of the features describedbelow may be replaced or eliminated for other embodiments of theworkpiece 600.

Referring to block 502 of FIG. 5, a substrate 102 is received. Thesubstrate 102 may be substantially similar to the substrate 102 of FIG.2 and may include an elementary semiconductor, a compound semiconductor,an insulator, and/or other suitable substrate 102 materials. Thereceived substrate 102 has one or more rib structures 208 formed uponit. Two exemplary techniques for forming rib structures 208 aredescribed with respect to FIGS. 6-10 and FIGS. 6-13, respectively.Additional exemplary techniques for forming a rib structure 208 aredescribed with respect to FIGS. 51-69.

In a first exemplary technique described in blocks 504-508 of FIG. 5 andFIGS. 6-10, the rib structure 208 is formed by etching the surroundingsubstrate 102 to reveal the rib structure 208. Referring to FIG. 6, asubstrate 102 is illustrated and a region of the substrate that is usedto form a rib structure 208 is indicated by the dashed box 602.Referring to block 504 of FIG. 5, areas of the substrate 102 surroundingthe rib structure region are recessed. In some embodiments, thisincludes forming a photoresist layer 702 over the substrate 102 andpatterning it to expose the portions of the substrate 102 that are to berecessed by the etchant. In the embodiment of FIG. 7, the photoresistlayer 702 has been patterned to leave the photoresist material over therib structure region. An exemplary photoresist layer 702 includes aphotosensitive material that causes the layer 702 to undergo a propertychange when exposed to light. This property change can be used toselectively remove exposed or unexposed portions of the photoresistlayer 702 in a process referred to as lithographic patterning. Anexemplary patterning process includes soft baking of the photoresistlayer 702, mask aligning, exposure, post-exposure baking, developing thephotoresist layer 702, rinsing, and drying (e.g., hard baking).Alternatively, a photolithographic process may be implemented,supplemented, or replaced by other methods such as masklessphotolithography, electron-beam writing, and ion-beam writing.

Referring still to block 504 of FIG. 5 and referring to FIG. 8, anetching process is performed on the substrate 102. The etching mayinclude any suitable etching process including dry etching, wet etching,and/or other etching methods (e.g., reactive ion etching (RIE)). Forexample, in an embodiment, the substrate 102 is etched in a dry etchingprocess using a fluorine-based etchant. In some embodiments, etchingincludes multiple etching steps with different etching chemistries, eachtargeting a particular material of the substrate 102. The etching isconfigured to produce rib structures 208 of any suitable height andwidth extending above the remainder of the substrate 102.

Referring to block 506 of FIG. 5 and to FIG. 9, the substrate 102 may beselectively etched to define one or more isolation feature trenches 902.The etching of block 506 may be performed substantially similar to theetching of block 504, and in an embodiment, both etchings are performedas part of a single etching process. Should the etching technique orchemistries vary, the etching of block 506 may use any suitable etchingtechnique include dry etching, wet etching, RIE, and/or other etchingmethods. In some embodiments, the photoresist layer 702 formed in block504 may be reused in the etching of block 506 or the existingphotoresist layer may be stripped and a new photoresist layer may bedeposited over the substrate 102 and patterned.

Referring to block 508 of FIG. 5 and to FIG. 10, an isolation feature206 is formed by depositing a fill material in the trench 902. In someembodiments, the formation of the isolation feature includes depositinga liner (not shown) in the trench 902. The liner reduces crystallinedefects at the interface between the substrate 102 and the fillmaterial. The liner may include any suitable material including asemiconductor nitride, a semiconductor oxide, a thermal semiconductoroxide, a semiconductor oxynitride, a polymer dielectric, and/or othersuitable materials, and may be formed using any suitable depositionprocess including thermal growth, ALD, CVD, HDP-CVD, PVD, and/or othersuitable deposition processes. In some embodiments, the liner includes aconventional thermal oxide liner formed by a thermal oxidation process.In some exemplary embodiments, the liner includes a semiconductornitride formed via HDP-CVD.

The fill material or fill dielectric is then formed within the trench902. Exemplary fill dielectric materials include a semiconductor oxide,a semiconductor nitride, a semiconductor oxynitride, FSG, and/or a low-Kdielectric material. In various exemplary embodiments, an oxide filldielectric material is formed using a HDP-CVD process, a sub-atmosphericCVD (SACVD) process, a high-aspect ratio process (HARP), and/or aspin-on process.

It is understood that the technique of blocks 504-508 is only oneexample of the many suitable techniques for forming a rib structure 208on a substrate 102. In that regard, the rib structure 208 formed inblocks 504-508 may be used to form an active device such as the FinFETdescribed below. Additionally or in the alternative, a portion of therib structure 208 may be replaced by a different material before beingused to form an active device. An exemplary rib structure replacementtechnique is described in blocks 510-514.

Referring to block 510 of FIG. 5 and to FIG. 11, a dielectric fillmaterial 1102 is formed on the substrate 102 and surrounding theexisting rib structure 208. A chemical mechanical polish/planarization(CMP) process may be performed on the dielectric fill material 1102following its deposition.

Referring to block 512 of FIG. 5 and to FIG. 12, the rib structure 208and any remaining resist 702 are etched to define a cavity 1202 for thereplacement rib structure. The etching may include any suitable etchingprocess including dry etching, wet etching, and/or other etching methodssuch as RIE. The etching process is configured to remove some or all ofthe rib structure 208, and in the illustrated embodiment, the ribstructure 208 is etched until its top surface is coplanar with a topsurface of the isolation features 206. In some embodiments, a portion ofthe rib structure 208 remains after etching to act as a seed layer forthe formation of the replacement rib structure.

Referring to block 514 of FIG. 5 and to FIG. 13, a replacement ribstructure 1302 is formed in the cavity 1202 left by the removal of theoriginal rib structure 208. The technique used to form the replacementrib structure 1302 may depend on the materials of the replacement ribstructure 1302 and in that regard, suitable materials includeconductors, semiconductors, and dielectrics such as semiconductoroxides, semiconductor nitrides, semiconductor oxynitride, FSG, and/or alow-K dielectric materials. In some embodiments, a conductor-containingreplacement rib structure 1302 is formed by PVD (e.g., sputtering,evaporating, electroplating, etc.), CVD, and/or other depositionprocesses. In some embodiments, a semiconductor-containing replacementrib structure 1302 is formed by an epitaxial growth process. In someembodiments, a dielectric-containing rib structure 1302 is formed usinga HDP-CVD process, a sub-atmospheric CVD (SACVD) process, a high-aspectratio process (HARP), and/or a spin-on process. Forming the replacementrib structure 1302 may also include performing a chemical mechanicalpolish/planarization (CMP) process following the deposition of thereplacement rib structure material. In an embodiment, forming thereplacement rib structure 1302 also includes a thermal annealing processfollowing the deposition of the rib structure material. The dielectricfill material 1102 is removed after the replacement rib structure 1302is formed.

As described above, the embodiments of FIGS. 6-10 and 6-13 are merelysome examples of techniques used to form a rib structure on a substrate.Other exemplary techniques for forming a rib structure 208 by etchingare disclosed below in the context of FIGS. 51-57.

To avoid unnecessary duplication, the substrate 102 and rib structure208 of blocks 504-508 and FIG. 10 is used to illustrate the remainder ofthe method 500 although it is understood that any suitable alternativeincluding the substrate 102 and replacement rib structure 1302 of blocks504-514 and FIG. 13 may be used as well. Referring to block 516 of FIG.5 and to FIG. 14, a sheet layer 204 is deposited on the substrate 102including on the rib structure 208. Along the length of the ribstructure 208, the sheet layer 204 has defined upon it: source/drainregions 108 and a channel region 110 disposed between the source/drainregions 108. In many embodiments, the sheet layer 204 has sufficientcarrier mobility that the channel region 110 functions even when formedhaving a relatively small cross-sectional area. In that regard, thesheet layer 204 may be a little as a single molecule in thickness. Forexample, in some embodiments, the sheet layer 204 includes one or moremonolayers of graphene, a sheet based carbon structure, where each sheetis a single atom in thickness. Even in this configuration, graphene hasa remarkably high mobility. It is so high that in some embodiments,impurities may be added in order to reduce mobility as described below.

A graphene-containing sheet layer 204 may be formed by epitaxialgraphene growth. In one such embodiment, a silicon carbide dielectric isused as a seed layer to promote the epitaxial growth of the graphene onthe rib structure 208. Another exemplary technique for forming agraphene-containing sheet layer 204 utilizes CVD (chemical vapordeposition) directly on the rib structure 208 or on a metallic film. Themetallic film may be part of the rib structure 208 or may be part of aseparate baking material. Graphene formed on the backing material can beadhered to the rib structure 208, allowing the backing to be removedwhile leaving the graphene of the sheet layer 204. In some embodiments,graphene is formed by reacting a metal film with silicon carbide to forma metal carbide. The metal carbide is annealed to produce a metalsilicide and graphene from the remaining carbon. In yet anotherexemplary embodiment, graphene is deposited using an aqueous solution ofgraphene oxide.

To control mobility and to produce a semiconductor-like response to agate voltage, the channel region 110 of the sheet layer may be doped byadding impurities. In some embodiments dopants such as boron (B) andnitrogen (N) are substituted for carbon atoms in the graphene matrix(atomic substitution). Additionally or in the alternative, the regularstructure of the graphene may be disrupted by adding dopants such astitanium, chromium, iron, NH₃, potassium, and NO₂ in order to produce adesired bandgap.

In addition to or as a substitute for graphene, in some embodiments, thesheet layer 204 includes one or more monolayers of a transition metaldichalcogenide. As described above, transition metal dichalcogenidesinclude a transition metal (e.g., Zr, Ta, Nb, W, Mo, Ga, Sn, etc.) and achalcogenide (e.g., Se, S, Te, etc.). Similar to graphene, transitionmetal dichalcogenide materials align in generally planar monolayers. Inan exemplary embodiment, the sheet layer 204 is formed by depositingMoS₂ on the substrate 102 and rib structure 208 by CVD or other suitabledeposition process. In further exemplary embodiments, the sheet layerincludes ZrSe₂, TaSe₂, TaS₂, NbSe₂, WSe₂, MoTe₂, MoSe₂, GaSe, GaS,SnSe₂, SnS₂ and/or other transition metal dichalcogenides. In variousembodiment, transition metal dichalcogenide material of the sheet layer204 is deposited using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), CVD, and/or othersuitable depositions processes.

In the illustrated embodiments of FIG. 14, the sheet layer 204 is formedon each exposed side of the rib structure 208. In other words, it isformed on both side surfaces as well as the top surface of the ribstructure 208. In addition to being formed on the rib structure 208, thesheet layer 204 may also be formed on the substrate 102 and/or isolationfeatures 206. In particular, the sheet layer may be formed on andphysically contacting a top surface 210 which may be part of thesubstrate 102, part of an isolation feature 206, part of a dielectriclayer 1102, or part of another material layer. The sheet layer 204 maybe etched back to electrically separate FinFET devices as illustrated inblock 518 and FIG. 15. By controlling the amount of the sheet layer 204left on the top surface 210, the channel width of the FinFET devices canbe individually controlled, and thus a single workpiece 600 may havemultiple FinFET devices of varying channel widths. The etching of thesheet layer 204 may include depositing a photoresist material on thesubstrate 102, exposing and patterning the photoresist to expose theportion of the sheet layer 204 to be etched, and etching the portion ofthe sheet layer 204 formed on the top surface. The etching may includeany suitable etching technique, and in various embodiments, includes dryetching, wet etching, reactive ion etching, and/or other etching methods(e.g., reactive ion etching). While the illustrated embodiment shows theportion of the sheet layer 204 being etched before a gate stack isformed, in some embodiments, the etching is performed during or afterformation of the gate stack 112 as described in blocks 520-522.

Referring now to block 520 of FIG. 5 and to FIG. 16, a gate stack 112 isdeposited over the sheet layer 204. The gate stack 112 may have amulti-layer composition. For example, in the illustrated embodiment, thegate stack 112 includes an interfacial layer 1602 configured to bondwith the sheet layer, a gate dielectric layer 1604 configured toelectrically insulate the conductive portions of the gate stack 112 fromthe sheet layer 204, and a gate electrode layer 1606. It is understoodthat no layer is required or characteristic of any particular gate stack112. For example, in some embodiments, the interfacial layer 1602 isomitted.

In more detail, the interfacial layer 1602 may include any suitablematerial configured to bond to the sheet layer 204 without disruptingthe sheet layer 204. In that regard, suitable materials includesemiconductor oxides, semiconductor nitrides, semiconductor oxynitrides,other suitable interfacial materials, and/or combinations thereof. Invarious embodiments, the interfacial layer 1602 is formed on anddirectly contacting the sheet layer 204 to any suitable thickness usingany suitable process including thermal growth, ALD, CVD, HDP-CVD, PVD,spin-on deposition, and/or other suitable deposition processes. Theinterfacial layer 1602 may also be formed on the top surface 210 of thesubstrate 102, the isolation feature 206, and/or the dielectric layer1102 as shown.

One or more gate dielectric layers 1604 may be formed on the interfaciallayer 1602 or on the sheet layer 204 directly. The gate dielectriclayers 1604 include dielectric materials, which are commonlycharacterized by their dielectric constant (k) relative to silicondioxide. Thus, each gate dielectric layer 1604 may include a high-kdielectric material such as HfO₂, HfSiO, HfSiON, HfTaO, HfTiO, HfZrO,zirconium oxide, aluminum oxide, hafnium dioxide-alumina (HfO₂—Al₂O₃)alloy, other suitable high-k dielectric materials, and/or combinationsthereof. Additionally or in the alternative, a gate dielectric layer1604 may include other dielectrics such as a semiconductor oxide,semiconductor nitride, semiconductor oxynitride, semiconductor carbide,amorphous carbon, tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), other suitabledielectric material, and/or combinations thereof. The gate dielectriclayers 1604 may be formed to any suitable thickness using any suitableprocess including ALD, CVD, HDP-CVD, PVD, spin-on deposition, and/orother suitable deposition processes.

A gate electrode layer 1606 is formed on the gate dielectric layer 1604.Despite naming conventions such as MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductorFET), workpiece 600 includes embodiments with polysilicon-containinggate electrode layers 1606 as well as metal-containing electrode layers.Accordingly, the gate electrode layer 1604 may include any suitablematerial, including polysilicon, aluminum, copper, titanium, tantalum,tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum nitride, nickel silicide, cobaltsilicide, TiN, WN, TiAl, TiAlN, TaCN, TaC, TaSiN, metal alloys, othersuitable materials, and/or combinations thereof. Work function metalgate materials included in a metal-containing gate electrode layer 1606may be n-type or p-type work function materials. Exemplary p-type workfunction metals include TiN, TaN, Ru, Mo, Al, WN, ZrSi₂, MoSi₂, TaSi₂,NiSi₂, WN, other suitable p-type work function materials, and/orcombinations thereof. Exemplary n-type work function metals include Ti,Ag, TaAl, TaAlC, TiAlN, TaC, TaCN, TaSiN, Mn, Zr, other suitable n-typework function materials, and/or combinations thereof. In variousembodiments, the conductor of the gate electrode layer 1606 is depositedby CVD, PVD, and/or other suitable process.

Along the length of the rib structure 208, the gate stack 112 may beformed on and wrapped around the channel region 110 of the sheet layer204. The gate stack may also extend past the channel region 110 and beformed on one or more source/drain regions 108. In such embodiments, thegate stack 112 may be etched back from the source/drain regions 108 asshown in block 522 of FIG. 5 and FIG. 17. In one such embodiment, thisincludes: forming a photoresist material over the gate stack 112;exposing and patterning the photoresist material to expose a portion ofthe gate stack 112 to be etched; and etching the exposed gate stack 112to remove the exposed portion. Suitable etching processes include wetetching, dry etching, reactive ion etching, and other suitable etchingtechniques. In some embodiments, the etching of the gate stack 112 isperformed as part of the etching of the sheet layer 204 described inblock 518.

Referring to block 524 of FIG. 5 and referring still to FIG. 17, theworkpiece 600 containing the trigate FinFET 202 is provided for furtherfabrication and packaging processes. This may include the formation ofcontacts 1702 that electrically couple the gate stack 112 and thesource/drain regions 108 to other active and passive devices of theworkpiece 600 via an interconnect structure. The contacts 1702 may beformed from any suitable conductor with common examples including copperand tungsten. In some embodiments, a contact 1702 includes a collet 1704formed from the conductor of the contact 1702 in order to increase thecontact area with the gate stack 112 or source/drain region 108. Byincreasing the surface area, the collet 1704 improves reliability andreduces contact resistance. When used to couple to a feature disposed onthe fin structure 104 such as a source/drain region 108, a collet 1704may extend over more than one surface. In the illustrated embodiment,the collets 1704 contact the top surface and each side surface of thesheet layer 204 formed on the fin structure 104.

Other exemplary embodiments of the thin-sheet FinFET device andtechniques for forming the embodiments will now be described. Turning toFIGS. 18-24, a double-gate thin-sheet FinFET device 1902 is disclosed.As will be shown, the double-gate thin-sheet FinFET 1902 may be used astwo independent transistor devices with a common gate or as a singletransistor device. FIG. 18 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method 1800for forming a double-gate FinFET device according to various aspects ofthe present disclosure. It is understood that additional steps can beprovided before, during, and after the steps of method 1800, and thatsome of the steps described can be replaced or eliminated for otherembodiments of the method. FIGS. 19-24 are perspective views of aportion of a workpiece 1900 undergoing a method of forming a double-gateFinFET device 1902 according to various aspects of the presentdisclosure. FIGS. 19-24 have been simplified for the sake of clarity andto better illustrate the concepts of the present disclosure. Additionalfeatures may be incorporated into the workpiece 1900, and some of thefeatures described below may be replaced or eliminated for otherembodiments of the workpiece 1900.

Referring to block 1802 of FIG. 18 and to FIG. 19, a workpiece 1900 isreceived. The workpiece 1900 may be substantially similar to that ofFIG. 14, and in that regard, may include a substrate 102 having a ribstructure 208 formed upon it and a sheet layer 204 formed on the ribstructure 208. The forming of the rib structure 208 and the sheet layer204 may be performed substantially as described in blocks 502-516 ofFIG. 5 or by any other suitable technique. Referring to block 1804 ofFIG. 18 and to FIG. 20, a planarization layer 2002 is formed on thesubstrate 102. The planarization layer 2002 is used to control asubsequent etching or polishing process and may be selected for itsmechanical and/or chemical stability. For example, in an embodiment, theplanarization layer 2002 includes a low-temperature oxide deposited byCVD. Other suitable processes for forming the planarization layer 2002include HDP-CVD, PVD, and/or other suitable deposition processes. As theplanarization layer 2002 is used to control a subsequent etching orpolishing process, it may be formed to a thickness (measuredperpendicular to the top surface 210 of the substrate 102 and/orisolation feature 206) configured to expose the top surface of the finstructure 104 as shown in the illustrated embodiment. In alternateembodiments, the planarization layer 2002 is first formed to cover thesheet layer 204 and is thinned to expose the top surface of the finstructure 104 as part of the removal process of block 1806.

Referring to block 1806 of FIG. 18 and to FIG. 21, the sheet layer 204on the top surface of the rib structure 208 is removed. In an exemplaryembodiment, a CMP process removes the portion of the sheet layer 204that is exposed by the planarization layer 2002. In further exemplaryembodiments, a chemical etching process such as a wet etching, dryetching, RIE, and/or other etching process is used to remove the portionof the sheet layer 204 exposed by the planarization layer 2002. Theetching of block 1806 may completely remove the portion of the sheetlayer 204 on the top surface of the rib structure 208 so that theportions of the sheet layer 204 on the side surfaces of the ribstructure 208 (e.g., portions 2102 and 2104) are electrically uncoupled.According, a pair of source/drain regions 108 and an interposed channelregion 110 are formed on one side surface of the rib structure 208 andare visible in FIG. 21. On the opposing side surface, obscured by theperspective of FIG. 21, a symmetrical arrangement of source/drainregions and a channel region 110 is also formed. As shown below, theseregions may be used as channel regions 110 and source/drain regions 108of independent transistors or as a single coupled transistor simply bythe formation of the contacts 1702 and the collets 1704. When used asindependent transistors, because the source/drain regions 108 are formedon the same fin structure 104, the transistors may exhibit very similarelectrical characteristics.

After the removal of the sheet layer 204, the planarization layer 2002may be removed as illustrated in block 1808 of FIG. 18 and FIG. 22.Referring to block 1810, the workpiece 1900 may be provided for gatestack 112 fabrication and other subsequent processing such as theprocessing described in blocks 520-524 of FIG. 5 or any other suitablefabrication processes. As described above, the double gate FinFET 1902may be implemented as two independent transistors (transistors 2302 and2304) as shown in FIG. 23 or as a single transistor as shown in FIG. 24.In the embodiment of FIG. 23, the contacts 1702 coupled to thesource/drain regions 108 on either side surface of the rib structure 208are electrically independent, whereas in the embodiment of FIG. 24, thecontacts 1702 and collets 1704 electrically couple the source/drainregions 108 on the side surfaces of the rib structure 208. It isunderstood that a single workpiece 1900 may include FinFETs in bothconfigurations.

A double-gate thin-sheet FinFET 1902 device may also be formed withoutthe use of a planarization layer 2002 using an anisotropic (directional)etch as shown in FIGS. 25-29. FIG. 25 is a flow diagram of an exemplarymethod 2500 for forming a double-gate FinFET device 1902 using ananisotropic etching process according to various aspects of the presentdisclosure. It is understood that additional steps can be providedbefore, during, and after the steps of method 2500, and that some of thesteps described can be replaced or eliminated for other embodiments ofthe method. FIGS. 26-29 are perspective views of a portion of aworkpiece 2600 undergoing a method of forming a double-gate FinFETdevice 1902 according to various aspects of the present disclosure.FIGS. 26-29 have been simplified for the sake of clarity and to betterillustrate the concepts of the present disclosure. Additional featuresmay be incorporated into the workpiece 2600, and some of the featuresdescribed below may be replaced or eliminated for other embodiments ofthe workpiece 2600.

Referring to block 2502 of FIG. 25 and to FIG. 26, a workpiece 2600 isreceived that includes a substrate 102 having a rib structure 208 and asheet layer 204 formed upon it. In that regard, the substrate 102 may besubstantially similar to that of FIG. 14, and the forming of the ribstructure 208 and the sheet layer 204 may be performed substantially asdescribed in blocks 502-516 of FIG. 5 or by any other suitabletechnique. Referring to block 2504 of FIG. 25 and to FIG. 27, ananisotropic etching process is performed to etch the horizontal surfacesof the sheet layer 204. Exemplary anisotropic etching processes includedry etching as well as wet etching, RIE, and other suitable etchingprocesses. As shown in FIG. 27, the anisotropic etching process mayremove the portion of the sheet layer 204 on the top surface of the finstructure 104 as well as the portion on the top surface 210 of thesubstrate 102 and/or isolation feature 206. Thus, the etching process ofblock 2404 may be performed as part of the etching of the sheet layer204 described in block 518 of FIG. 5. A pair of source/drain regions 108and an interposed channel region 110 are formed on one side surface ofthe rib structure 208 and are visible in FIG. 27. On the opposing sidesurface, obscured by the perspective of FIG. 27, a symmetricalarrangement of source/drain regions and a channel region 110 is alsoformed.

Referring to block 2406, after the partial removal of the sheet layer204, the workpiece 2600 may be provided for gate stack 112 fabricationand other subsequent processing such as the fabrication processdescribed in blocks 520-524 of FIG. 5 or any other suitable processes.As described above, the double gate FinFET 1902 may be implemented astwo independent transistors (transistors 2802 and 2804) as shown in FIG.28 or as a single transistor as shown in FIG. 29. A single workpiece2600 may include FinFETs 1902 in both configurations.

A final exemplary technique for forming a double-gate thin-sheet FinFETdevice 1902 is described with reference to FIGS. 30-36. FIG. 30 is aflow diagram of an exemplary method 3000 for forming a double-gateFinFET device 1902 using sidewall spacers according to various aspectsof the present disclosure. It is understood that additional steps can beprovided before, during, and after the steps of method 3000, and thatsome of the steps described can be replaced or eliminated for otherembodiments of the method. FIGS. 31-36 are perspective views of aportion of a workpiece 3100 undergoing a method of forming a double-gateFinFET device 1902 according to various aspects of the presentdisclosure. FIGS. 31-36 have been simplified for the sake of clarity andto better illustrate the concepts of the present disclosure. Additionalfeatures may be incorporated into the workpiece 3100, and some of thefeatures described below may be replaced or eliminated for otherembodiments of the workpiece 3100.

Referring to block 3002 of FIG. 30 and to FIG. 31, a workpiece 3100 isreceived that includes a substrate 102 having a rib structure 208 and asheet layer 204 formed upon it. In that regard, the substrate 102 may besubstantially similar to that of FIG. 14, and the forming of the ribstructure 208 and the sheet layer 204 may be performed substantially asdescribed in blocks 502-516 of FIG. 5 or by any other suitabletechnique. Referring to block 3004 of FIG. 30 and to FIG. 32, sidewallspacers 3202 are formed on the vertical portions of the sheet layer 204.The sidewall spacers 3202 protect underlying areas of the sheet layer204 from a subsequent etching process and expose for etching a portionof the sheet layer 204 on the top surface of the fin structure 104 and aportion of the sheet layer 204 on the top surface 210 of the substrate102 and/or isolation feature 206. As can be seen from FIG. 32, bycontrolling the width of the sidewall spacers 3202 (indicated by arrow3204), the amount of the sheet layer 204 left on the top surface 210 ofthe substrate 102 and/or isolation feature 206 can be controlled. Thisallows the operator to control the channel width of the FinFET devices1902, and a single workpiece 3100 may have multiple FinFET devices 1902of varying channel widths.

Any of a number of techniques may be used to form the sidewall spacers3202. For example, in some embodiments, a masking material is depositedconformally on the sheet layer 204 and an anisotropic etch is used toremove the horizontal portions of the masking material leaving thesidewall spacers 3202. Suitable conformal deposition techniques includeCVD and HDP-CVD. Other techniques for forming the sidewall spacers 3202are both contemplated and provided for. Suitable materials for thesidewall spacers 3202 include dielectrics such as a semiconductor oxide,a semiconductor nitride, a semiconductor oxynitride, a semiconductorcarbide, and/or other dielectrics.

Referring to block 3006 of FIG. 30 and to FIG. 33, the exposed portionsof the sheet layer 204 are removed from the top surface of the ribstructure 208 and the top surface 210 of the substrate 102 and/orisolation features 206. In an exemplary embodiment, the exposed portionsare removed by an etching process. The etching of the sheet layer 204may include any suitable etching technique, such as dry etching, wetetching, reactive ion etching, and/or other etching methods (e.g.,reactive ion etching). One advantage of using sidewall spacers 3202 isthat they allow the use of both anisotropic and isotropic etchingtechniques in block 3006. Referring to FIG. 34, the sidewall spacers3202 are removed from the sheet layer 204. With the sidewall spacers3202 removed, a pair of source/drain regions 108 and an interposedchannel region 110 formed on one side surface of the rib structure 208are visible in FIG. 34. On the opposing side surface, obscured by theperspective of FIG. 34, a symmetrical arrangement of source/drainregions and a channel region 110 is also formed.

Referring to block 3008 of FIG. 30, after the removal of the sidewallspacers 3202, the workpiece 3100 may be provided for gate stack 112fabrication and other subsequent processing such as the processingdescribed in blocks 520-524 of FIG. 5 or any other suitable fabricationprocesses. As described above, the double gate FinFET 1902 may beimplemented as two independent transistors (transistors 3502 and 3504)as shown in FIG. 35 or as a single transistor as shown in FIG. 36. Asingle workpiece 3100 may include FinFETs 1902 in both configurations.

Because forming multiple devices on a single fin structure 104 improvesdevice density and produces more uniform performance across devices,many of the above embodiments, such as those of FIGS. 23, 28, and 35,include two FinFET transistors formed on opposing sides of a ribstructure 208. Whereas the above examples shared a common gate stack112, in some embodiments, two electrically-independent FinFETs withindependent gate stacks are formed on a single rib structure 208. Anexemplary double-device embodiment is described with reference to FIGS.37-41. FIG. 37 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method 3700 for forminga double-device FinFET 3802 according to various aspects of the presentdisclosure. It is understood that additional steps can be providedbefore, during, and after the steps of method 3700, and that some of thesteps described can be replaced or eliminated for other embodiments ofthe method. FIGS. 38-41 are perspective views of a portion of aworkpiece 3800 undergoing a method of forming a double-device FinFET3802 according to various aspects of the present disclosure. FIGS. 38-41have been simplified for the sake of clarity and to better illustratethe concepts of the present disclosure. Additional features may beincorporated into the workpiece 3800, and some of the features describedbelow may be replaced or eliminated for other embodiments of theworkpiece 3800.

Referring to block 3702 of FIG. 37 and to FIG. 38, a workpiece 3800 isreceived that includes a substrate 102 having a rib structure 208 and asheet layer 204 formed upon it. A gate stack 112 is formed overwrappinga channel region 110 of the sheet layer 204. In that regard, thesubstrate 102 may be substantially similar to that of FIG. 16, and theforming of the rib structure 208, the sheet layer 204, and the gatestack 112 may be performed substantially as described in blocks 502-522of FIG. 5 or by any other suitable technique.

Referring to block 3704 of FIG. 30 and to FIG. 39, a planarization layer3902 is formed on the substrate 102. The planarization layer 3902 isused to control a subsequent etching or polishing process and may beselected for its mechanical and/or chemical stability. For example, inan embodiment, the planarization layer 3902 includes a low-temperatureoxide deposited by CVD. Other suitable processes for forming theplanarization layer 3902 include high-density plasma CVD (HDP-CVD),physical vapor deposition (PVD), and/or other suitable depositionprocesses. As the planarization layer 3902 is used to control asubsequent etching or polishing process, it may be formed to a thickness(measured perpendicular to the top surface 210 of the substrate 102and/or isolation feature 206) configured to expose a top portion of thefin structure 104 and a top portion of the gate stack 112 as shown inthe illustrated embodiment. In alternate embodiments, the planarizationlayer 3902 is first formed to cover the fin structure 104 and gate stack112 and is thinned to expose the fin structure 104 and the gate stack112 as part of the removal process of block 3706.

Referring to block 3706 of FIG. 37 and to FIG. 40, the topmost portionof the gate stack 112 and the portion of the sheet layer 204 on thetopmost surface of the rib structure 208 are removed. In an exemplaryembodiment, a CMP process removes the exposed portions of the sheetlayer 204 and the gate stack using the planarization layer 3902 as a CMPstop material. In further exemplary embodiments, a chemical etchingprocess such as a wet etching, dry etching, RIE, and/or other etchingprocess is used to remove the portion of the sheet layer 204 and thegate stack 112 exposed by the planarization layer 3902. The removalprocess of block 3706 may completely remove the topmost portion of thegate stack 112 so that the remaining portions of the gate stack 112 onthe side surfaces of the rib structure 208 (e.g., portions 4002 and4004) are electrically uncoupled. This creates two independent gatestructures. Likewise, the removal process of block 3706 may completelyremove the topmost portion of the sheet layer 204 so that the remainingportions of the sheet layer 204 on the side surfaces of the ribstructure 208 (e.g., portions 4006 and 4008) are electrically uncoupled.

After the separating the gate stack 112 and the sheet layer 204, theplanarization layer 3902 may be removed as illustrated in block 3708 ofFIG. 37 and FIG. 41. With the planarization layer 3902 removed, a pairof source/drain regions 108 and an interposed channel region 110 formedon one side surface of the rib structure 208 are visible in FIG. 41. Onthe opposing side surface, obscured by the perspective of FIG. 41, asymmetrical arrangement of source/drain regions and a channel region 110is also formed. Referring still to FIG. 41, the substrate may also beprovided for subsequent fabrication processes as illustrated in block3710. In an exemplary embodiment, these subsequent fabrication processesinclude the formation of contacts 1702 and collets 1704 as well as otherfabrication processes.

As discussed above, by forming the channel region on a sheet layer 204wrapped around a projecting rib structure 208, a variety of novel devicestructures may be fabricated. While many of the above examples includean insulating rib structure 208, a dielectric rib structure 208, or asemiconductor rib structure 208, portions of the rib structure 208 mayalso include a conductor. An exemplary embodiment in which a conductorwithin the rib structure 208 is used to form a second, independent gateis described with respect to FIGS. 42-50. FIG. 42 is a flow diagram ofan exemplary method 4200 for forming an inner-gate FinFET 4302 accordingto various aspects of the present disclosure. It is understood thatadditional steps can be provided before, during, and after the steps ofmethod 4200, and that some of the steps described can be replaced oreliminated for other embodiments of the method. FIGS. 43-50 areperspective views of a portion of a workpiece 4300 undergoing a methodof forming an inner-gate FinFET according to various aspects of thepresent disclosure. FIGS. 43-50 have been simplified for the sake ofclarity and to better illustrate the concepts of the present disclosure.Additional features may be incorporated into the workpiece 4300, andsome of the features described below may be replaced or eliminated forother embodiments of the workpiece 4300.

Referring to block 4202 of FIG. 42 and to FIG. 43, a workpiece 4300 isreceived that includes a substrate 102, substantially similar to thesubstrates of FIGS. 10 and/or 13. In that regard, the substrate 102 mayinclude one or more isolation features 206 and/or an isolation layer1102. In the illustrated embodiment, the rib structure 208 has not yetbeen formed. However, in some embodiments, the received substrateincludes a precursor, a first layer of the rib structure 208 alreadyformed upon the substrate 102. The precursor may be used to align ribstructure 208 and/or to aid bonding of subsequent layers of the ribstructure 208 to the substrate 102.

Referring to block 4204 of FIG. 42 and to FIG. 44, a gate electrodelayer 4402 of the rib structure 208 is formed on the substrate. The gateelectrode layer 4402 may include any suitable conductive material suchas polysilicon and/or metals including aluminum, copper, titanium,tantalum, tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum nitride, nickel silicide,cobalt silicide, TiN, WN, TiAl, TiAlN, TaCN, TaC, TaSiN, metal alloys,other suitable materials, and/or combinations thereof. In someembodiments, a polysilicon-containing gate electrode layer 4402 isdeposited via a low-pressure CVD (LPCVD) process or a plasma-enhancedCVD (PECVD) process. In some embodiments, a metal-containing gateelectrode layer 4402 is deposited by a damascene process. In one suchembodiment, a masking layer (such as a semiconductor oxide or asemiconductor nitride masking layer) is formed and patterned to define arecess for the gate electrode layer 4402. One or more layers of metalare then deposited within the recess. For example, a tungsten-containingliner may be deposited and a copper-containing material may be depositedon the liner. The tungsten liner may prevent copper from diffusing intothe substrate 102. Conductive material outside the recess is removed byCMP or other processes and the masking layer is removed leaving the gateelectrode layer 4402. It is understood that these processes are merelyexemplary and other techniques for forming the gate electrode layer 4402are both contemplated and provided for.

Referring to block 4206 of FIG. 42 and to FIG. 45, one or more gatedielectric layers 4502 of the rib structure 208 are formed on the gateelectrode layer 4402. The gate dielectric layers 4502 may include anysuitable dielectric material including a semiconductor oxide, asemiconductor nitride, a semiconductor oxynitride, a semiconductorcarbide, amorphous carbon, tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), othersuitable dielectric material, and/or combinations thereof. In someembodiments, the one or more gate dielectric layers 4502 include ahigh-k dielectric material such as HfO₂, HfSiO, HfSiON, HfTaO, HfSiO,HfZrO, zirconium oxide, aluminum oxide, hafnium dioxide-alumina(HfO₂—Al₂O₃) alloy, other suitable high-k dielectric materials, and/orcombinations thereof. The gate dielectric layers 4502 may be formed toany suitable thickness using any suitable process including ALD, CVD,HDP-CVD, PVD, spin-on deposition, and/or other suitable depositionprocesses.

In some embodiments, an interfacial layer is formed on the outermostgate dielectric layer 4502. The interfacial layer may include anysuitable material configured to bond to the sheet layer 204 withoutdisrupting the sheet layer 204. In that regard, suitable materialsinclude semiconductor oxides, semiconductor nitrides, semiconductoroxynitrides, other suitable interfacial materials, and/or combinationsthereof.

Referring to block 4208 of FIG. 42 and to FIG. 46, a sheet layer 204 isformed on the rib structure 208 and the substrate 102 and/or isolationfeature 206 substantially as described in block 516 of FIG. 5. In theillustrated embodiments of FIG. 46, the sheet layer 204 is formed oneach exposed surface (a topmost surface and two opposing side surfaces)of the rib structure 208. Along the length of the rib structure 208, thesheet layer 204 has source/drain regions 108 and a channel region 110disposed between the source/drain regions 108.

Referring to block 4210 of FIG. 42, the workpiece 4300 is provided forfurther fabrication. Method 4200 may be combined with the otherexemplary methods disclosed herein to form a variety of devices. Forexample, in an embodiment, the workpiece 4300 undergoes the fabricationprocesses of blocks 518-524 of FIG. 5 to form a trigate FinFET 106 asillustrated in FIG. 47. It is noted that, in this embodiment and others,a contact 1702 and an optional collet 1704 are electrically coupled tothe gate electrode layer 4402 of the rib structure 208. These allow thegate within the rib structure 208 to be controlled independently of theoverwrapping gate stack 112. For example, the gate within the ribstructure 208 may be used for back biasing, a technique used to adjustthe V_(th) of the device and tune it for power, performance, and/orconsistency across devices.

In a further embodiment, the workpiece 4300 undergoes the fabricationprocesses of blocks 1802-1810 of FIG. 18, blocks 2502-2506 of FIG. 25,and/or blocks 3002-3008 of FIG. 30 to form double-gate FinFETs 4802and/or 4902 as illustrated in FIGS. 48 and 49, respectively. In theembodiment of FIG. 48, the contacts 1702 coupled to the source/drainregions 108 on either side surface of the rib structure 208 areelectrically independent, whereas in the embodiment of FIG. 49, thecontacts 1702 electrically couple the source/drain regions 108 on theopposing side surfaces of the rib structure 208. It is understood that asingle workpiece 4300 may include FinFETs in both configurations. In afinal exemplary embodiment, the workpiece 4300 undergoes the fabricationprocesses of blocks 3702-3710 of FIG. 37 to form a double-device FinFET5002 having transistors 5004 and 5006 as illustrated in FIG. 50.

As described above, any suitable technique may be used to form the finstructure 208 on the substrate. Another set of techniques for forming afin structure 208 will now be described with reference made to FIGS.51-69. The techniques are well suited to forming a fin structure 208 ona semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) type substrate 102. FIG. 51 is a flowdiagram of an exemplary method 5100 for forming the fin structure 208 onthe substrate 102 according to various aspects of the presentdisclosure. It is understood that additional steps can be providedbefore, during, and after the steps of method 5100, and that some of thesteps described can be replaced or eliminated for other embodiments ofthe method. FIGS. 52-57 are perspective views of a portion of aworkpiece 5200 undergoing the method 5100 of forming the fin structure208 on the substrate according to various aspects of the presentdisclosure. Once formed, the fin structure 208 of the workpiece issuitable for use in any of the exemplary techniques for forming aFinFET. FIGS. 58-69 are perspective views of a portion of a workpiece5200 having thin-film FinFETs formed thereupon according to variousaspects of the present disclosure.

Referring first to block 5102 of FIG. 51 and to FIG. 52, a substrate 102having a base layer 5202, an insulating layer 5204, and a rib materiallayer 5206 is received. Suitable base layers 5202 include semiconductorand/or non-semiconductor materials. Accordingly, in some examples, thebase layer 5202 includes an elementary semiconductor material and/or acompound semiconductor material. The insulating layer 5204 is disposedon the base layer 5202 and may include any suitable insulating materialsuch as a semiconductor oxide, a semiconductor nitride, a semiconductoroxynitride, a semiconductor carbide, and/or other suitable materials. Inan exemplary embodiment, the insulating layer 5204 is a buried siliconoxide layer formed by SIMOX.

The rib material layer 5206 is disposed on the insulating layer 5204and, similar to the rib structure 208 it is used to form, may includeany suitable material. In various embodiments, the rib material layer5206 includes a semiconductor material (e.g., an elementarysemiconductor and/or a compound semiconductor), a dielectric material(e.g., a semiconductor oxide, a semiconductor nitride, a semiconductoroxynitride, a semiconductor carbide, FSG, and/or a low-K dielectricmaterial), an insulator material (e.g., quartz, glass, etc.), aconductor (e.g., polysilicon, metal, metal alloys, etc.), and/orcombinations thereof. For reference, the portion of the rib materiallayer 5206 that is used to form a rib structure 208 is indicated by thedashed box 5208.

Referring to block 5104 of FIG. 51, areas of the rib material layer 5206surrounding the rib structure region are recessed. In some embodiments,this includes forming a photoresist layer 5302 over the rib materiallayer 5206 and developing it to expose the portions of the rib materiallayer 5206 that are to be recessed by the etchant. In the embodiment ofFIG. 53, the photoresist layer 5302 has been patterned to leave thephotoresist material over the rib structure region. Alternatively, aphotolithographic process may be implemented, supplemented, or replacedby other methods such as maskless photolithography, electron-beamwriting, and ion-beam writing.

Referring still to block 5104 of FIG. 51 and referring to FIG. 8, anetching process is performed on the substrate 102. The etching mayinclude any suitable etching process including dry etching, wet etching,and/or other etching methods (e.g., reactive ion etching (RIE)). Forexample, in an embodiment, the substrate 102 is etched in a dry etchingprocess using a fluorine-based etchant. In some embodiments, etchingincludes multiple etching steps with different etching chemistries, eachtargeting a particular material of the substrate 102. The etching isconfigured to produce rib structures 208 of any suitable height andwidth extending above the remainder of the substrate 102.

The rib structure 208 formed in blocks 5102 and 5104 may be used “as is”to form an active device such as the FinFETS described above.Additionally or in the alternative, a portion of the rib structure 208may be replaced by a different material before being used to form anactive device. An exemplary rib structure replacement technique isdescribed in blocks 5106-5110.

Referring to block 5106 of FIG. 51 and to FIG. 55, a dielectric fillmaterial 5502 is formed on the substrate 102 and surrounding theexisting rib structure 208. A chemical mechanical polish/planarization(CMP) process may be performed on the dielectric fill material 1102following its deposition.

Referring to block 5108 of FIG. 51 and to FIG. 56, the rib structure 208and any remaining resist 5302 are etched to define a cavity 5602 for thereplacement rib structure. The etching may include any suitable etchingprocess including dry etching, wet etching, and/or other etching methodssuch as RIE. The etching process is configured to remove some or all ofthe rib structure 208, and in the illustrated embodiment, the ribstructure 208 is completely removed by the etching process. In analternative embodiment, a portion of the rib structure 208 remains afteretching to act as a seed layer for the formation of the replacement ribstructure.

Referring to block 5110 of FIG. 5 and to FIG. 57, a replacement ribstructure 5702 is formed in the cavity 5602 left by the removal of theoriginal rib structure 208. The technique used to form the replacementrib structure 5702 may depend on the materials of the replacement ribstructure 5702 and in that regard, suitable materials includeconductors, semiconductors, and dielectrics such as semiconductoroxides, semiconductor nitrides, semiconductor oxynitride, FSG, and/or alow-K dielectric materials. In some embodiments, a conductor-containingreplacement rib structure 5702 is formed by PVD (e.g., sputtering,evaporating, electroplating, etc.), CVD, and/or other depositionprocesses. In some embodiments, a semiconductor-containing replacementrib structure 5702 is formed by an epitaxial growth process. In someembodiments, a dielectric-containing rib structure 5702 is formed usinga HDP-CVD process, a sub-atmospheric CVD (SACVD) process, a high-aspectratio process (HARP), and/or a spin-on process. Forming the replacementrib structure 5702 may also include performing a chemical mechanicalpolish/planarization (CMP) process following the deposition of thereplacement rib structure material. In an embodiment, forming thereplacement rib structure 5702 also includes a thermal annealing processfollowing the deposition of the rib structure material. The dielectricfill material 5504 is removed after the replacement rib structure 5702is formed.

Referring to block 5112 of FIG. 5, the workpiece 5200 including the ribstructure 208 and/or replacement rib structure 5702 is provided forfurther fabrication. Further fabrication may include any of thefabrication techniques described above. Various examples of theworkpiece 5200 having undergone these techniques will now be described.Referring to FIG. 58, in an exemplary embodiment, the workpiece 5200undergoes the process of blocks 516-524 of FIG. 5 to produce a trigateFinFET device 202. In many respects, the trigate FinFET device 202 issubstantially similar to that described in the context of FIG. 17. Forexample, the trigate FinFET device 202 of FIG. 58 includes a sheet layer204 disposed on the rib structure 208 and having source/drain regions108 and a channel region 110 disposed upon it; a gate stack 112 disposedon the sheet layer 204; contacts 1702 electrically coupling the gatestack 112 and the source/drain regions 108 to other active and passivedevices of the workpiece 5200, and/or collets 1704, where each issubstantially similar to that of FIG. 17.

Referring to FIG. 59, in an exemplary embodiment, the workpiece 5200undergoes the process of blocks 1802-1810 of FIG. 18 to produce a doublegate FinFET 1902 implemented as two independent transistors (transistors2302 and 2304). In many respects, the double gate FinFET device 1902 issubstantially similar to that described in the context of FIG. 23. Forexample, the double gate FinFET device 1902 of FIG. 59 includes a sheetlayer 204 disposed on the rib structure 208 and having source/drainregions 108 and a channel region 110 disposed upon it; a gate stack 112disposed on the sheet layer 204; contacts 1702 electrically coupling thegate stack 112 and the source/drain regions 108 to other active andpassive devices of the workpiece 5200, and/or collets 1704, where eachis substantially similar to that of FIG. 23.

Referring to FIG. 60, in an exemplary embodiment, the workpiece 5200undergoes the process of blocks 1802-1810 of FIG. 18 to produce a doublegate FinFET 1902 implemented as a single transistor. In many respects,the double gate FinFET device 1902 is substantially similar to thatdescribed in the context of FIG. 24. For example, the double gate FinFETdevice 1902 of FIG. 60 includes a sheet layer 204 disposed on the ribstructure 208 and having source/drain regions 108 and a channel region110 disposed upon it; a gate stack 112 disposed on the sheet layer 204;contacts 1702 electrically coupling the gate stack 112 and thesource/drain regions 108 to other active and passive devices of theworkpiece 5200, and/or collets 1704, where each is substantially similarto that of FIG. 24.

Referring to FIG. 61, in an exemplary embodiment, the workpiece 5200undergoes the process of blocks 2502-2506 of FIG. 25 to produce a doublegate FinFET 1902 implemented as two independent transistors (transistors2802 and 2804). In many respects, the double gate FinFET device 1902 issubstantially similar to that described in the context of FIG. 28. Forexample, the double gate FinFET device 1902 of FIG. 61 includes a sheetlayer 204 disposed on the rib structure 208 and having source/drainregions 108 and a channel region 110 disposed upon it; a gate stack 112disposed on the sheet layer 204; contacts 1702 electrically coupling thegate stack 112 and the source/drain regions 108 to other active andpassive devices of the workpiece 5200, and/or collets 1704, where eachis substantially similar to that of FIG. 28.

Referring to FIG. 62, in an exemplary embodiment, the workpiece 5200undergoes the process of blocks 2502-2506 of FIG. 25 to produce a doublegate FinFET 1902 implemented as a single transistor. In many respects,the double gate FinFET device 1902 is substantially similar to thatdescribed in the context of FIG. 29. For example, the double gate FinFETdevice 1902 of FIG. 62 includes a sheet layer 204 disposed on the ribstructure 208 and having source/drain regions 108 and a channel region110 disposed upon it; a gate stack 112 disposed on the sheet layer 204;contacts 1702 electrically coupling the gate stack 112 and thesource/drain regions 108 to other active and passive devices of theworkpiece 5200, and/or collets 1704, where each is substantially similarto that of FIG. 29.

Referring to FIG. 63, in an exemplary embodiment, the workpiece 5200undergoes the process of blocks 3002-3008 of FIG. 30 to produce a doublegate FinFET 1902 implemented as two independent transistors (transistors3502 and 3504). In many respects, the double gate FinFET device 1902 issubstantially similar to that described in the context of FIG. 35. Forexample, the double gate FinFET device 1902 of FIG. 63 includes a sheetlayer 204 disposed on the rib structure 208 and having source/drainregions 108 and a channel region 110 disposed upon it; a gate stack 112disposed on the sheet layer 204; contacts 1702 electrically coupling thegate stack 112 and the source/drain regions 108 to other active andpassive devices of the workpiece 5200, and/or collets 1704, where eachis substantially similar to that of FIG. 35.

Referring to FIG. 64, in an exemplary embodiment, the workpiece 5200undergoes the process of blocks 3002-3008 of FIG. 30 to produce a doublegate FinFET 1902 implemented as a single transistor. In many respects,the double gate FinFET device 1902 is substantially similar to thatdescribed in the context of FIG. 36. For example, the double gate FinFETdevice 1902 of FIG. 64 includes a sheet layer 204 disposed on the ribstructure 208 and having source/drain regions 108 and a channel region110 disposed upon it; a gate stack 112 disposed on the sheet layer 204;contacts 1702 electrically coupling the gate stack 112 and thesource/drain regions 108 to other active and passive devices of theworkpiece 5200, and/or collets 1704, where each is substantially similarto that of FIG. 36.

Referring to FIG. 65, in an exemplary embodiment, the workpiece 5200undergoes the process of blocks 3702-3710 of FIG. 37 to produce adouble-device FinFET 3802 that includes two independent transistors(transistors 4102 and 4104). In many respects, the double-device FinFET3802 is substantially similar to that described in the context of FIG.41. For example, the double-device FinFET 3802 of FIG. 65 includes asheet layer 204 disposed on the rib structure 208 and havingsource/drain regions 108 and a channel region 110 disposed upon it; agate stack 112 disposed on the sheet layer 204; contacts 1702electrically coupling the gate stack 112 and the source/drain regions108 to other active and passive devices of the workpiece 5200, and/orcollets 1704, where each is substantially similar to that of FIG. 41.

Referring to FIG. 66, in an exemplary embodiment, the workpiece 5200undergoes the process of blocks 4202-4210 of FIG. 42 and blocks 518-524of FIG. 5 to form a trigate FinFET 106. In many respects, the trigateFinFET 106 is substantially similar to that described in the context ofFIG. 47. For example, the trigate FinFET 106 of FIG. 66 includes a ribstructure having a gate electrode layer 4402 and one or more gatedielectric layers 4502, a sheet layer 204 disposed on the rib structure208 and having source/drain regions 108 and a channel region 110disposed upon it; a gate stack 112 disposed on the sheet layer 204;contacts 1702 electrically coupling the gate stack 112, the source/drainregions 108, and the gate electrode layer 4402 to other active andpassive devices of the workpiece 5200, and/or collets 1704, where eachis substantially similar to that of FIG. 47.

Referring to FIG. 67, in an exemplary embodiment, the workpiece 5200undergoes the process of blocks 4202-4210 of FIG. 42 and a fabricationprocess such as that of blocks 1802-1810 of FIG. 18, blocks 2502-2506 ofFIG. 25, and/or blocks 3002-3008 of FIG. 30 to form a double gate FinFETdevice 4802 implemented as two independent transistors. In manyrespects, the double gate FinFET device 4802 is substantially similar tothat described in the context of FIG. 48. For example, the double gateFinFET device 4802 of FIG. 67 includes a rib structure having a gateelectrode layer 4402 and one or more gate dielectric layers 4502, asheet layer 204 disposed on the rib structure 208 and havingsource/drain regions 108 and a channel region 110 disposed upon it; agate stack 112 disposed on the sheet layer 204; contacts 1702electrically coupling the gate stack 112, the source/drain regions 108,and the gate electrode layer 4402 to other active and passive devices ofthe workpiece 5200, and/or collets 1704, where each is substantiallysimilar to that of FIG. 48.

Referring to FIG. 68, in an exemplary embodiment, the workpiece 5200undergoes the process of blocks 4202-4210 of FIG. 42 and a fabricationprocess such as that of blocks 1802-1810 of FIG. 18, blocks 2502-2506 ofFIG. 25, and/or blocks 3002-3008 of FIG. 30 to form a double gate FinFETdevice 4902 implemented as a single transistor. In many respects, thedouble gate FinFET device 4902 is substantially similar to thatdescribed in the context of FIG. 49. For example, the double gate FinFETdevice 4902 of FIG. 68 includes a rib structure having a gate electrodelayer 4402 and one or more gate dielectric layers 4502, a sheet layer204 disposed on the rib structure 208 and having source/drain regions108 and a channel region 110 disposed upon it; a gate stack 112 disposedon the sheet layer 204; contacts 1702 electrically coupling the gatestack 112, the source/drain regions 108, and the gate electrode layer4402 to other active and passive devices of the workpiece 5200, and/orcollets 1704, where each is substantially similar to that of FIG. 49.

Finally, referring to FIG. 69, in an exemplary embodiment, the workpiece5200 undergoes the process of blocks 4202-4210 of FIGS. 42 and 3702-3710of FIG. 37 to form a double-device FinFET 5002 that includes transistors5004 and 5006. In many respects, the double-device FinFET 5002 issubstantially similar to that described in the context of FIG. 50. Forexample, the double-device FinFET 5002 of FIG. 69 includes a ribstructure having a gate electrode layer 4402 and one or more gatedielectric layers 4502, a sheet layer 204 disposed on the rib structure208 and having source/drain regions 108 and a channel region 110disposed upon it; a gate stack 112 disposed on the sheet layer 204;contacts 1702 electrically coupling the gate stack 112, the source/drainregions 108, and the gate electrode layer 4402 to other active andpassive devices of the workpiece 5200, and/or collets 1704, where eachis substantially similar to that of FIG. 50.

Thus, the present disclosure provides a thin-sheet non-planar circuitdevice such as a FinFET and a method for forming the device. In someexemplary embodiments, a semiconductor device is provided that includesa substrate having a top surface defined thereupon, a feature disposedon the substrate and extending above the top surface, and a materiallayer disposed on the feature. The material layer has a plurality ofsource/drain regions and a channel region disposed between thesource/drain regions. The semiconductor device also includes a gatestack disposed on the channel region of the material layer. In one suchembodiment, the material layer includes at least one of graphene and atransition metal dichalcogenide compound.

In further embodiments, a circuit device is provided that includes a finformed on a substrate and having a transistor formed thereupon. In turn,the fin includes a rib structure and a sheet material formed on at leastone surface of the rib structure. The sheet material has a channelregion of the transistor defined thereupon, and the circuit device alsoincludes a gate formed over the channel region of the sheet material. Inone such embodiment, the rib structure includes a top surface andopposing side surfaces, and the sheet material is formed on at least theopposing side surfaces of the rib structure.

In yet further embodiments, a method of fabricating a semiconductordevice is provided that includes: receiving a substrate having a featureformed thereupon, wherein the feature extends upward from a top surfaceof the substrate; forming a material layer on the feature and on the topsurface of the substrate; removing a portion of the material layerformed on the top surface of the substrate; and forming a gate stackover the material layer. In one such embodiment, the removing of theportion of the material layer is configured to control a channel widthof a transistor formed by the material layer.

The foregoing outlines features of several embodiments so that thoseskilled in the art may better understand the aspects of the presentdisclosure. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that they mayreadily use the present disclosure as a basis for designing or modifyingother processes and structures for carrying out the same purposes and/orachieving the same advantages of the embodiments introduced herein.Those skilled in the art should also realize that such equivalentconstructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the presentdisclosure, and that they may make various changes, substitutions, andalterations herein without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A semiconductor device comprising: a substratehaving a top surface defined thereupon; a feature disposed on thesubstrate and extending above the top surface; a material layer disposedon the feature and having a plurality of source/drain regions definedthereupon, wherein the material layer further has a channel regiondisposed between the source/drain regions; and a gate stack disposed onthe channel region of the material layer.
 2. The semiconductor device ofclaim 1, wherein the material layer includes at least one of grapheneand a transition metal dichalcogenide compound.
 3. The semiconductordevice of claim 1, wherein the material layer includes a portiondisposed on the top surface of the substrate, and wherein the portion isnot disposed on the feature.
 4. The semiconductor device of claim 1,wherein the feature includes a plurality of side surfaces and whereinthe material layer is disposed on each surface of the plurality of sidesurfaces.
 5. The semiconductor device of claim 4, wherein the featurefurther includes a topmost surface, and wherein the material layer isfurther disposed on the topmost surface of the feature.
 6. Thesemiconductor device of claim 1, wherein the feature includes a topmostsurface free of the material layer.
 7. The semiconductor device of claim6, wherein the material layer includes a first channel region disposedon a first side surface of the feature and a second channel regiondisposed on a second side surface of the feature.
 8. The semiconductordevice of claim 7, wherein the first channel region forms a firsttransistor, and wherein the second channel region forms a secondtransistor different from the first transistor.
 9. The semiconductordevice of claim 1, wherein the feature includes a dielectric material.10. A circuit device comprising: a fin formed on a substrate and havinga transistor formed thereupon, wherein the fin includes: a ribstructure; and a sheet material formed on at least one surface of therib structure, wherein the sheet material has a channel region of thetransistor defined thereupon; and a gate formed over the channel regionof the sheet material.
 11. The circuit device of claim 10, wherein therib structure includes a dielectric material.
 12. The circuit device ofclaim 10, wherein the sheet material includes at least one of grapheneand a transition metal dichalcogenide compound.
 13. The circuit deviceof claim 10, wherein the sheet material includes a portion formed on anisolation feature of the substrate, and wherein the portion extends awayfrom the rib structure.
 14. The circuit device of claim 10, wherein therib structure includes a top surface and opposing side surfaces, andwherein the sheet material is formed on at least the opposing sidesurfaces of the rib structure.
 15. The circuit device of claim 14,wherein the sheet material is further formed on the top surface of therib structure.
 16. The circuit device of claim 14, wherein the topsurface is free of the sheet material.
 17. A method of fabricating asemiconductor device, the method comprising: receiving a substratehaving a feature formed thereupon, wherein the feature extends upwardfrom a top surface of the substrate; forming a material layer on thefeature and on the top surface of the substrate; removing a portion ofthe material layer formed on the top surface of the substrate; andforming a gate stack over the material layer.
 18. The method of claim17, wherein the forming of the material layer includes forming thematerial layer to include at least one of graphene and a transitionmetal dichalcogenide compound.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein theportion of the material layer is a first portion, the method furthercomprising removing a second portion of the material layer disposed on atopmost surface of the feature.
 20. The method of claim 17, wherein theremoving of the portion of the material layer is configured to control achannel width of a transistor formed by the material layer.